Latest Blog Posts

“Lost time is never found again.” Benjamin Franklin As the school year and concert season winds down, do you have regrets? Was your concert repertoire everything you hoped it would be? Did your students make progress singing in a new foreign language or was it a bit beyond them this year? Was the new approach […]

Lift Every Voice is a column in Choral Journal concerning issues of access, diversity, equity, inclusion, belonging, and restorative practice (ADEIBR) in choral music. We hope this column can provide a space to incubate ideas about inclusive practices and provide mentorship for choral practitioners. The column has a quarterly review cycle. Submit by February 1, […]

“To thine own self be true, and it must follow, as the night the day, thou canst not then be false to any man.” William Shakespeare A few weeks ago, I wrote a blog about the scandal (no need to repeat it again) at the New York Philharmonic. I asked for comments and opinions. No […]

“In learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” Phil Collins There is a pause, if we choose to take it, after a concert season, academic year, major project, or significant life experience.  Like savasana at the end of a yoga practice, we take the opportunity to assimilate, to feel the effects of […]

The International Journal of Research in Choral Singing (IJRCS)  is ACDA’s scholarly publication that welcomes studies that apply rigorous, systematically-grounded methodologies, either quantitative or qualitative, to investigate phenomena of potential interest to all who sing in, work with, or are otherwise interested in choral ensembles. Below is the abstract from this article written by Marci L. […]

Choralosophy has been at the epicenter of the music education conversation since 2019. The first episode that really made a splash was #18. Ripping Off the Bandaid. It seemed to draw a two sided coin of responses. Colleagues were either offended or found their instruction revolutionized for the better. In this episode, I look back […]

My Mother, Rose Marie (Ditto) Grass, in a 1956 production of “Martha.” “Mother is the name for God in the lips and hearts of little children.” William Makepeace Thackeray This Sunday is Mother’s Day in the United States. I am a mother but am also a daughter, missing her mother especially this year. I think […]

The May 2024 issue of Choral Journal is online and features a section remembering Alice Parker. Alice Parker led an incredible life dedicated to the timeless power of music. She passed away in 2023 at the age of ninety-eight. You can read her In Memoriam in this section. Following that is a selection of reprints […]

“Don’t sweat the petty things and don’t pet the sweaty things.” George Carlin Jackie* and I became friends at a long ago ACDA national conference and have stayed in contact for several decades. She directs a community chorus two states over and emailed me about a situation which came up during her summer audition period […]

The voice change process can be a challenging experience for young singers.  Episode 32 of ChoralEd discusses musical accommodations that can support singers through their respective voice change. Musical accommodations occur when the choral educator makes changes to the musical material to better support their singers.  (1) Octave displacement is a common accommodation where the […]